Copyright Infringement or Hoax? Help!

[a_ump]

Burn the letter, Piss on the ashes' then have a fucking beer.

haha what da man said, and while your at it throw a lil maryjane into the mix

 

[BradleyKZN]

From thin air i think alex hopefully i dont see anything like this emerge here in Oz as guarenteed the old and the non puter savvy will get sucked in big time.

now that you mention it, if this happened in south africa, this country would be in turmoil!

 

[mrhuggles]

that ip is in Nottingham

 

[laszlo]

don't throw the letter;you can use it to sue them for attempt of scaming you.

people who have received similar letters can hire together a good lawyer and destroy the scam company

 

[SpookyWillow]

just google ACS:LAW torrent scam letter, loads of people have got this type of letter

 

[Gzero]

Read:
http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/be...from-solicitors-regarding-to-illegal-p2p.html

Don't throw that letter away and certainly don't ignore it.
If you ignore them, it implies your guilty unfortunately, that is the way the loop hole works.

ops I forgotten how long that thread got lol. Basicly jump to the admin's posts and read around them.

 

[hickster]

ACS: LAW LETTER RE: Call of Juarez

Hi all

I got a letter through yesterday from ACS: Law accusing me of sharing the game "Call of Juarez", they want £565 and I have 21 days to respond. The letter was posted 2nd class and was NOT recorded.

I must confess that although I had nevr heard of the game before yesterday, I am crapping myself at the thought of being taken to court. The IP they quoted was my IP address and they ordered NTL(Virgin) to give up my details for which they charged ACS: Law £65.

Thing is this, should NTL(Virgin) have contacted me for being in breech of their TOC?

I am worried about this and do not know which way to turn, I am out of work at the moment and this will hit my family hard.

I have seen and heard much conflicting advice, as to what to do. One person says write back to them another says ignore it untill they send a court order then respond. Would a Solicitor even be interested in what seems a "cut and dried" case?

HELP!

 

[Dark Evil]

Hey Hickter i received a ACS:LAW letter yesterday 5 pages long with a fine of £565 containing a payment form at the end... i have heard of the game the file name but the date of it excuses me of downloading a full copy is set back a year ago 04/02/2008 09:20:57 bang on.

It's me first letter of this sort and i am totally confused to what to do, but if you state that you never heard of the file and are telling the truth perhaps this is all just bullshit???

any ideas guys?

 

[lemonadesoda]

Why dont you scan your letters and upload them here so we can see what you are talking about.

 

[hickster]

Hey Hickter i received a ACS:LAW letter yesterday 5 pages long with a fine of £565 containing a payment form at the end... i have heard of the game the file name but the date of it excuses me of downloading a full copy is set back a year ago 04/02/2008 09:20:57 bang on.

It's me first letter of this sort and i am totally confused to what to do, but if you state that you never heard of the file and are telling the truth perhaps this is all just bullshit???

any ideas guys?

Hi, my latter claims I downloaded the game on the 25/04/2008. The point is is that in the letter the accusation is not that the game was downloded, but that I SHARED IT! A year ago I had a 2MB connection so I would imagine it would have been a hefty download and even bigger upload!

What is the Wisdom on what to do with this letter?

I contacted the Consumer Direct People and they said to respond to the letter by stating that I had never heard of the game and that I should ask for my name to be removed from the claim. This letter should be addressed to the Senior Partner and should be sent by RECORDED DELIVERY (In the UK this is). In addition I should contact the Information Office in charge of Data Protection and inform them regarding the way that these people got hold of my information from my ISP

The Phone Number for Consumer Direct is 0845 4040506
The Phone Number for the Information Officer is 0162 5545745

 

[Gzero]

Why dont you scan your letters and upload them here so we can see what you are talking about.

It's a template letter with bad wording in terms of IT words. But legally they have been using it to make money. This ACS firm is probably the same as Davenport Lyons firm.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7763185.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_7766000/7766448.stm

http://www.slyck.com/forums/viewtop...art=3025&sid=c83e95bc8b08abfbeb6fc70cb0d5e694 - latest on another forum.

Send a recorded letter hickster. Do not wait as that would do nothing to help your case.

Lemon have a look at this: http://regmedia.co.uk/2008/11/19/davenport_letter.jpg

 

[Gzero]

More here from Watchdog:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2008/12/davenport_lyons_threatening_le.html

 

[hickster]

Thanks Gzero, I am wondering wether to contact Michael Coyle, he seems to be organising a defense for all those sent these letters, anyone know more about this?

 

[TheCrow]

Lets face it with all the trouble virgin have protecting their netwrk from cloned modems, etc i dont think they could really prove it if someone did actually download a game, etc illegally.

 

[kyle2020]

My dads spoke to a few other colleagues today and they have all advised the same - if the letter was so important, they would have sent it with a return of address, recorded delivery and followed the letter up with a phone call / personal visit. I have spoke to 3 additional people today who say they have had exactly the same letters - one friend has been accused of downloading an old 70's film, I mean come on!

 

[Gzero]

Lets face it with all the trouble virgin have protecting their netwrk from cloned modems, etc i dont think they could really prove it if someone did actually download a game, etc illegally.

It's rumoured that the engineers that come round to 'fix' your connection problem have been known to have a little nosey around your hdd to look for anything 'suspicious' and then tell Virgin or blackmail you.

 

[Gzero]

My dads spoke to a few other colleagues today and they have all advised the same - if the letter was so important, they would have sent it with a return of address, recorded delivery and followed the letter up with a phone call / personal visit. I have spoke to 3 additional people today who say they have had exactly the same letters - one friend has been accused of downloading an old 70's film, I mean come on!

Unfortunately they aren't the court of Law.

 

[hickster]

Lets face it with all the trouble virgin have protecting their netwrk from cloned modems, etc i dont think they could really prove it if someone did actually download a game, etc illegally.

What do you meen by that? I am with Virgin, I thought they were all static IPs? That is what is most worrying for me is that they identified my actual IP, I am worried that this could be a cut and dried case as far as the Law is concerned even though I know I have not heard of this game!

 

[hickster]

It's rumoured that the engineers that come round to 'fix' your connection problem have been known to have a little nosey around your hdd to look for anything 'suspicious' and then tell Virgin or blackmail you.

I wouldnt permit one of those monkeys to look at my HDD in the first place.

 

[kyle2020]

Why would you let someone from virgin on your computer in the first place?

They install the internet cabling, thats as far as they get with our household. Im more than capable of setting a bloody internet modem up, Im a cisco certified engineer for christs sakes

 

[Gzero]

I wouldnt permit one of those monkeys to look at my HDD in the first place.

Why would you let someone from virgin on your computer in the first place?

They install the internet cabling, thats as far as they get with our household. Im more than capable of setting a bloody internet modem up, Im a cisco certified engineer for christs sakes

Well unfortunately, ISP's are more than happy to say: It's your computer is the reason for slow speeds.

And unknowing customers put faith in the knight in shining armour to fix their internet connection.

It's common enough, you just hardly hear about it since the majority of those people don't know how to use a forum. So if you know a relative that doesn't know much about computing, make sure they know to come to you first! And yes if you so wish charge a little fee for your time

 

[timta2]

It looks like an article about this company's practices has made it to TorrentFreak.com...

‘New’ Anti-Piracy Lawyers Chase UK File-Sharers
http://torrentfreak.com/new-anti-piracy-lawyers-chase-uk-file-sharers-090508/

 

[hickster]

Just contacted Virgin Media

Just contacted Virgin Media and they have confirmed that they gave my details to ACS:LAW and I am the first person they have heard this from!!! Hmmmm Unless she meant she was the first person to have heard of this at VM. She said that VM respects their customers but faced with a Court Order they HAVE to hand over the details.

Does ANYONE have a kind of help on how to construct a reply letter as I know I have not done this yet their is my lack of faith in the justice system to actually refute these allegations.

In the letter I received from ACS:LAW they stated that a simple denial would not be good enough. This to me is strange as that is all I have a simple denial that i did not do it.

 

[Triprift]

I think that just shows how serious they are about it wich is not alot.

 

[hickster]

I think that just shows how serious they are about it wich is not alot.

What do you meen? you think ACS:LAW wont persue people?

I need help with a reply, I suddenly feel thick lol